This summer will see the return of some of the most famous characters from Pixar’s catalogue with the prequel Monsters University, but in a few years the studio is poised to revive its most popular film yet: Finding Nemo. We learned last July that Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton had signed on to helm Finding Nemo 2 as the follow-up to his infamous live-action debutJohn Carter (it’s really a good movie!), and shortly thereafter Ellen Degeneres signed on to reprise the character of Dory. Now, six months later, the other major piece of the puzzle has fallen into place as Albert Brooks has finally closed his deal to return. Hit the jump for more, including the possibility of another live-action film from Stanton.

Per Deadline, Albert Brooks has closed “a fat deal” to return to voice the character of Marlin in the Finding Nemo sequel. His deal took much longer to close than Degeneres’, presumably because he was holding out for a larger payday in lieu of his recent resurgence as a presence onscreen. Brooks enjoyed an immense amount of critical acclaim for his villainous turn in 2011’s Drive and also picked up considerable notice for his work in last year’s comedy This Is 40.

Story details concerning Finding Nemo 2 are still, unsurprisingly, under wraps, but with Brooks and Degeneres onboard one presumes that Dory and Marlin are once again the central characters. Interestingly, Deadline’s report also notes that despite the box office disappointment of the costly John Carter, Disney will be giving Stanton another shot at live-action. Although the film wasn’t perfect, I thought JC was a highly entertaining adventure pic on a massive scale, and Stanton’s Wall-E is a masterwork, so I’m eager to see the filmmaker return to live-action in the future. For now, though, his focus is on Finding Nemo 2. No release date has officially been announced, but I assume the earliest we’d see the pic is 2016 given the other films on Pixar’s docket. Take a look at the studio’s upcoming slate below: